Gas and liquid contact apparatus



Oct. 15, 1957 c. e. MUNTERS 2,809,818

GAS AND LIQUID CONTACT APPARATUS Filed June 21, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet l g- 52 so "/0 '1 INVENTOR.

58 56 58 CARL Gama Maniacs Oct. 15, 1957 C. G. MUNTERS GAS AND LIQUID CONTACT APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Shet 2 Filed June 21, 1956 INVENTOR -11- Cvecwe Mum/g5 BY 2 United States Patent 6 23809,8 &-

GAS EIQUIDCONTA'CTAPP ARATUS Carl GeorgMunters; stockholmeswedenppl ati n i e 2.1, 195 .S a1 N6-. 57 6 ciaima rimn ;.a ucanomsweamcuneza; 1-955 Z aii s. (C .1.2 61-Z4).l-

Bridge; theclosely spaced sheets: Such-'- a; construction provides'a large surface area'- pen-unit' ofvolirmeqf the packingand a liigli coeflicient?- of"perforrnance;

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a-gas and liquid contact packing of the type indicatedwhich-'further 'increases the surface" area' perunit" of volume ofthe paeking for anyparticular spacing; of

the partition wall;

Another object to provide a gas and liquid contact packing by partitiomwallsinto a-pli1rality ofverticallyarranged adjacenvcells of 'verysmallicrosssectionalarea with their=outlet ends-constructed to counteractthe surface tension -of -the liquid tending to bridge and plug thecell's:

Another object is-to' provide a packing-of the-type indicated' whichproduces a uniform distribution of liquidthrough'out'the' packing.

Another 'object is teprovide a packingof a thin-lightweight lowcost material which is- -absorbentenough todistribute:liquid and havingsufiicient-wet strength to supporteitselfi Still anotherobject=isto=providea gas-and liquid con-- tact packing of the type indicated'wliich'rnay be produced at: such 1ow cost asto make iteconomically feasibleto replace the entire pacldin'g when fouled with" dirt'ormineral scale.

These and other objects will become more apparent from the following description and drawings inwhiCh-like reference -characters denote like parts throughout thc'severalviews. It isto be expressly understood, however, that the drawingsare forthe purpose of illustration onlyand not a definition of the limits-of the invention, reference; being had for this purpose to the appended-claims. mile-drawings:

F igureil is a side ekvational viewof a cooling tower insection -to show the cellular type packing of the present invention;

EigureI-Qris'aperspective'viewofthe-packing andfshowing arrangemenb of alternate plain and corrugated sheetsito provide a-plurality of adjacent cell's;

- Bigure lr is a side elevation view offa portionof a pair of adjacent plain and' corrugated sheets showing the in'-, clined surfaces =atthe loweredgesthereof along which the' liquid flows-from the'cells; and- Eigure'A isa perspective view of apacking of modified construction;

2,809,818 Patented Oct. 15,. 1957 The gas and liquid contact" packing of the present in-' vention is adaptedfor; general application, but is shown in the drawings'a's applied to a. so-called' cooling tower for cooling water" by 'evaporative' cooling. The. paclt'in'g'j comprises: thin partition walls of a light-weight lowcost material so arranged as to' provide a series of adjacent; parallel cells open at thetop and bottom. Water supplied uniformly atthe' top of the packing isequally'dis tributed by the vertical walls between. parallel cells and flows downwardly: over thewalls ofthe cells in thin films. Simultaneously, air flows, upwardly through the center of; the cell'for direct contact with the films of liquid; K small portion of the water evaporates into the air flowing through the cells and the latent heat'ofvap'orization is removed fromthe water to reduce its temperature. However; the packing can.b'e used in absorption,,condensation' orconvection apparatus. I

The partition walls may be arranged to provide cells having circular, rectangularor hexagonal shape in cross. section. As the spacing between the partitioned wall's forming the cells decreases, the surface area per unitof' volume of the packing increases. It is thereforedesirable. tQ-reduce the cross :sectional' area of the cells to a minimumto increase thesurface. areaof the partitioned'walls per. u it of'volurne of the packingand produce a more. intimate contact, ofithe gas, and' liquid. However, cells. of: small cross sectional area produce'a special problem-in that the liquid? tendsv to. bridge. between. the partitioned. walls by. surface tension, especially. at the. lower outlet; ends of the cells, and thus. prevent the liquid from. drain: ing from the. packing In accordance. with'the. present; invention, the partitionedf walls. of the. cellsare. closely. spaced to provide. a -large surface area per. unit ofvolume and an intimate contactlof. the liquid and gas, and the partitioned walls are preferably so.constructed.at their-lower.

edges, as to provide. dependinginclined surfaces along.

which the liquid will'flow. from eachcell'withoutbridging, or. plugging of thecells; V

In apreferredv embodiment, the packing is. composed; of'alternate corrugated'and plain sheetsattachedlattlieir. points of contact to provide a plurality of: adjacent-par allel cells between the fiat and undulating. folds of. the: sheets. The sheets. may be made of chemically. treated paper and'the packing constructedin a very simple man? ner by accordion pleating one sheet, arranging the.- ac.- cordion pleated sheet betweenplain sheets-andattaching. the sheets attheir point of contact in the samewaythatv corrugated paper board isconstructed. Theundulating. folds of'the corrugated sheets provide the spacing-oflthe partition-walls; of each cell' and the .edgeportions of the assembled sheets provide. large areas through which-the liquid enters and leaves the packing. The large 1101i? zontal area at the top of the. packing is. divided-by. the ends of the partitioned walls forming the separate cells to provide for a uniform distribution of liquid through-- out the packing. Inorder to relieve the surface tension or cohesion, the .bottomedges of thesheets-are preferably; cut away at an acute. angle to the vertical axesof thecells to form aseriesaofw adjacent notches.- Thesangular edges of the notches formenlarged oval-shaped outlet openings at the. lower ends-of each celland. provide ex tended surfacesjnclined downwardly from-each: cell on? which the liquid flows away from thecells toprevent plugging of the,cells: bythe-liquid bridginggthe outlet-ends; thereof.

Figure. 1' of the. drawings illustrates.a-gas-and liquidt contact apparatus having. a. packingincorporating': the novel featuresv of the presentinvention. The apparatus is shown in the. form .of acooling tower having acasing; lo'inwhich a gas and liquidcontact packingunit. 12 is mounted. As illustrated-in Figures-1 to. 3,.the.oasing.1lll andpackiiig nareof cir'cular form in cross section and the packing comprises a hub 14 on which a continuous ribbon of the packing material is wound in overlapping spiral layers. The continuous ribbon comprises superimposed flat and corrugated sheets 16 and 18 which are joined by means of an adhesive at the points of contact 20 of the crests of the corrugated sheet with the plain sheet, see Figure 3. The corrugations simulate a sine wave and have a wave length up to twice the height of the undulations. Preferably, each wound layer of the continuous ribbon is glued to the preceding layer where the crests of the corrugated sheet contact the plain sheet.

The rolled packing sheets 16 and 18 provide pipe-like channels or cells 22 in the spaces between the adjacent sheets 16 and 18 which extend vertically throughout the height of the packing and are open at the top and bottom. The circular unit of packing material 12 is enclosed by a cylindrical metal sleeve 24. Sleeve 24, in turn, has a horizontal flange 26 on its periphery which rests on and is supported by a similar flange 28 projecting inwardly from the casing 10. Flange 28 also serves as a seal to prevent air from flowing between the cylindrical sleeve 24 and casing 10. The spirally wound ribbon of packing material 12 is reinforced by spokes 30 extending radially from the hub 14 through the packing and metal sleeve 24. The outer ends of the spokes 30 are firmly attached to the sleeve 24 by a fastening means shown as nuts 32 screwed onto the threaded ends of the spokes against the side of the sleeve. Preferably the spokes 30 extend from the sleeve 24 upwardly at an angle toward the hub 14 to increase their effectiveness.

The sheets 16 and 18 are made of any suitable thin material which is moisture-absorbent or can be moistened by water. Preferably, the sheets 16 and 18 are composed of paper of a thickness as low as A of a millimeter. Such paper has an extremely light weight and low cost compared to materials previously used and, due'to the corrugated form of alternate sheets 18, provides the necessary strength to support itself in a unit pack. As the paper is contacted with liquid, it is important that it possesses the degree of wet strength required to support the weight of water passing through the packing at any particular time in addition to its own weight. For this purpose, the paper, either before or after it is wound in a spiral pack, is impregnated with a plastic material such as, for example, melamine, carbamide or phenol-formaldehyde resins. Such plastic material may constitute the adhesive or glue for connecting the sheets at their points of contact. In this connection it should be pointed out that the paper must not be impregnated with too much of the plastic material as this reduces its moisture or liquid absorbent qualities but should be impregnated with a sufiicient quantity of the material to give it the wet strength required.

The distance between the fiat sheets 16, or in other words, the height of the corrugations in the sheets 18 may vary for particular conditions of application. The closer the spacing the sheets, the greater the surface area per unit of volume and the greater the intimate contact of the liquid and gas. On the other hand, as the distance between the sheets decreases, the resistance to the flow of air through the cells increases and the cells are more apt to become plugged by dirt, mineral scale or liquid bridging the cells by surface tension of the liquid. When the packing material is used in a cooling tower, the spacing between the sheets is made small enough so that liquid would normally bridge between the walls at the outlet of the cells to insure a large surface area per unit of volume, but large enough in relation to the length of the cells to insure the flow of the required amount of air at the pressure drop available. In most cooling tower installations the spacing between plain sheets 16 is about 3 to 4 millimeters but may be increased above this range while still having the bridging problem and still obtaining the advantages of a large surface area per unit of volume of packing. With a spacing between plain sheets 16 of 5 millimeters and with corrugated sheet 18 having a length of a complete undulation equal to twice its height, the numerical value of the surface area in square millimeters will be substantially equal to the numerical value of the volume in cubic millimeters. As the spacing increases to 10 millimeters the numerical value of the surface area in square millimeters is approximately one half the numerical value of the volume in cubic millimeters and if further increased to 15 millimeters the ratio would decrease to almost one quarter.

Water is delivered onto the top of the packing 12 through a conduit 34 to the head 36 of a rotary sprayer 38. The rotary sprayer 38 has arms in the form of pipes projecting radially from the head 36 and provided with a plurality of orifices 40 arranged in spaced relation on a helical line along the pipe to project the water substantially horizontally at the outer ends of the arms and progressively downwardly from the horizontal from the outer to the inner ends of the arms. The purpose of this construction is to lay a sheet of water onto the top of the packing in amounts varying proportionately with the increase in surface area of the circular end of the packing from its inner to its outer periphery. Furthermore, the construction automatically rotates the arms by the reactive force of the jets of water issuing from the perforations 40 to lay a progressively advancing sheet of water on the packing. The water supplied from the sprayer arms 38 is uniformly distributed in the packing by the vertical partition walls formed by the plain and corrugated sheets 16 and 18 which 'divide the sheet of water and deliver equal amounts to the individual cells 22. The liquid flows by gravity down the side walls of the cells 22 in thin films.

A fan 52 is mounted in the open top of the casing 10 to produce a flow of air through the packing 12. Fan 52. is driven by a motor to draw air through inlet openingsin the casing below the packing 12 and upwardly through the cells 22 where it directly contacts the films of liquid on the walls thereof. A portion of the liquid is evaporated into the air and the heat of vaporization is removed from the water to reduce its" temperature. A series of eliminator plates are provided above the liquid distributing sprayer arms 38 to remove liquid held in mechanical suspension in the air before it leaves the tower. However, as a consequence of the cell structure of the packing and of the fact that the water leaving the sprayer 38 need not be atomized but is delivered to the top of the packing as more or less continuous jets to get the proper distribution over the surfaces of the packing, such suspension becomes so small that the eliminator plates 55 may even be dispensed with.

The water cooled by the packing 12 flows to a sump tank in the base of the casing 10 from which it is delivered through a conduit 42 to the place where it is to be used. The water is returned to the tower through the conduit 34 to the sprayer arms 38. A supply pipe 44 also is provided for delivering additional water from any suitable source such as a city main as controlled by a valve 46 operated by a float 48 in the sump tank toangle to the axis of the cells to extend and enlarge the outlet openings as shown in Figure 3. The angle of the serrated edges should be correlated with the cross sectional area of the cells 22 to produce a height between lines and 62, see Figure 3, at least as great as and preferably greater than that necessary to counteract the hydrostatic head produced by the surface tension of the liquid tending' to,bridge the outlet openings from the cells. Fonexample, with plain sheets. 16' spaced. about 4 millimeters, the sides 58 of the serrations-may have. an acute.

ngle with. respectto the. vertical of as little. as. 15 degrees to-produee the hydrostatic head. required. to. break the surface tension. Eurtherrnoratheserrated bottom edge of-each-layer 0E plain and. corrugated packingsheets 16 and; 18. provides. inclined. surfaces along which liquid flow bygravity tothepoints: 56 .for. continually. draining the liquid; from. the; bottom. of. the cells to maintain them-open. so that air can freely enter the. cells for flow therethrough. In.-other words, the.waterflows down the inclined; surfaces.- 58. away; from the cells 22 to. prevent blocking or. plugging. the cells by water clinging thereto.

As; the cross,s e ctional areaof the cells decreases, the transfer coefficient and. ratio. of. surface. area to volume wiILincrease butithe an k o-thezvertical'of the draining edges 58 of the. serrations-at the. bottom. of thepacking musl'be'correspondingly decreased. Thus, the steepest angle to. the. verticall at which the. draining surfaces can be. made limits. the cross. sectional. area of the cells for all, practical; purposes. For example, in. designing the packing, consideration must be. given. to the. vertical dimensions of the. cells 22 to. produce the desired temperature drop, thevolume. of liquid. required. and the pressuredrop in. the: air stream, that can. be. produced by, the particular. fan to be used. The. spacing; of the sheets; 16 andtheminiinum cross sectional area of the cells}; can thenbedetermined bythe. permissible angle of the serrations. to produce: the ayeragelength of. cells required. Theminimumcrosssectional arearot the cells will. be theone-an-whichliquid-will flow from thecells. without plugging at the particular. angle ofthe serrations. ThecrossQsectional-areacf thecells22 should be made. greater. than the, optimum to. insure. proper operation. The average length. of the. cells 22 with a spacingof .4 millimeters between'sheets 16.may be in the range of 150 to, 400millimeters. A surprising result experiencedwith packing. made in accordance with the present invention..is,the period of. time. that it may be used.wi thout appreci ble effect from the. build up of mineral scale in the small cells 22 when hard water is used. It .is-not; lenowmwhether: this: improvement results from the paper material used. or amore active flushing of small crystals of precipitate before they accrete on the wall. However, when the scale does accumulate to a degree-that interfereswith the proper operation of. the tower, the packing may be replaced economically, due to its low initial cost.

A modified construction is illustrated in Figure 4 in which the packing unit is of rectangular shape with the plain and corrugated sheets 16 and 18 stacked in adjacent side by side relationship. Water to be cooled is delivered through conduit 34 having branches 64 connected to oppositely arranged sprayers 66. In the modified construction thesprayers are stationary and have deflecting bafiles 68 extending at different angles with respect to the top of the packing and between which water is sprayed through orifices in the sprayers 66. In the construction illustrated in Figure 4, the notches are sawed or cut in the edges of the stacked sheets instead of a pair of sheets being stamped or out before being wound into a roll as in the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1 to 3. Thus, the serrations are formed in parallel rows which extend perpendicularly to the plane of the paper sheets.

A stack of the packing sheets 16 and 18 are mounted in a frame 24 and the frame may have battens 70 at each end to hold the sheets in place and provide for sealing the ends of the sheets. The packing 12 is supported in the frame 24 by means of bolts 72 which extend between the sides of the frame and through the packing sheets.

While two embodiments of the invention are herein illustrated and described, it will be understood that further modifications may be made in the construction and arrangement of elementswithout, departingfromim spirit or. scope. of: the invention. For example, the and, liquidcontact packing may. be constructed ofa plurality. of 1 straw tubesarranged-in. adjacent parallel relationship; the bottom edges may. be. serrated. at anangle to. the plane of. the sheet insteadiof. at an angle to the end-of the sheets, and. the cellsrnay, beformed by-paper sheets. attached. to each: other. to. fcrm. a honeycomb 'construce tion. In cases where the packing isused =f o r, eyaporatiye cooling air while. the water. merely serves. the purpose. of wetting the surfaces of the cell's', the flow of. the two media therethrough, may. be in the same direction. There: fore without; limitation in respect. the, inyention is, definecbby, the following .Qlaitns;

I claim:

l. Ina gas andliquidcontact apparatus, the combina; tion with. the elements of.'such.an.appara tusofapacklug, comprisingthin. partition walls, atleast. apnrtion of. wallsundulating sons. to engage other. ofilsaid, at. spaced intervals. to mutually supporteach other and." definea mass of. adjacent peripherally; enclosed tubular. cellsopen at. the topandbottom, means for. supplying. liquid onto. thetop of the. packingwhich isdiyidedfb'y the edges of..the. walls. at the cpemtop of. adjacent. cells to distribute the liquid. across. the packing, ;said .d ivi ded. liquidflowing. downwardly. on .eachside. of the commontion. walls between, e61l QI maintaining. films. of.- liquid thereon forcontactwit h gas flowinglh roughthecells, the. cross-sectional areascf theeells being.sosmallthatliquid. can bridge thewallsot thecellsby surfacetension whereby. to. provide, a, large. surface, area pen unit. of volume 4 of said-packing, and meausfon hreakingthebridgingof the liquidtocause ittot-flow from the lower. endnoigthe cells iidthfireby. provide openings for: the flow of-gas. through,

ece s.

I III a a q id. c nta t appa uso bination with the elements. of such. an: apparatus, of. a,-

packing comprising =thin.partition walls,,.at,least a-portion of said walls. undulating so as teengage otheiiofi walls -at spacedv intervals tQmutuaIly, supportLeach-other anddefine a mass of?adjacent,peripherallysenclosediubu lar cells open atithe topandbottolu, mea fqnsupplying, liquid'onto the top, ofth'e which is divide d by the. edges of 'the walls at. the. open top .of-.adjacent-cells to distribute the liquid'across. the, packing, said divided llqlll d flowing, downwardly. on each.side.of the common part tion walls between cells'for maintaining filmsot llqllld thereon for contact with. gas flowing through the cells, the cross-sectionalarea of. thecellsbeingso small thathquid can bridge the wallsof, thecellsby surface tension whereby to provide a large surface area per unit of volume of said packing, and liquid draining surfaces pro ecting downwardly from the cells to break the bridging of said liquid to cause it to flow away from the cells and maintain the lower ends open for the flow of gas thereto.

3. A gas and liquid contact apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the partition walls of the packing are formed by plain and corrugated sheets of a fibrous material which absorbs liquid and with each corrugated sheet arranged between plain sheets.

4. A gas and liquid contact apparatus in accordance with claim 3 in which the cells are formed between the alternate plain andcorrugated sheets, and the lower edges of said sheets are cut on a bias to form elongated openings at the lower ends of the cells and inclined surfaces from which the liquid drains without bridging the openings.

5. A gas and liquid contact apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which the cells are formed between the alternate layers of flat and corrugated sheets, and the lower edges of said sheets are cut at an angle to the parallel cells so that the outlet openings from the adjacent cells are located at progressively lower levels.

6. A gas and liquid contact apparatus in accordance with claim'l in which the cells are of such small dimensions that the numerical value of the surface area in square millimeters is at least one half the numerical value of the volume in cubic millimeters.

7. A gas and liquid contact apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which'the packing is formed by plain and corrugated sheets of a fibrous material with the corrugated sheet positioned between plain sheets, and the spacing between the plain sheets being less than one centimeter.

8. In a gas and liquid contact apparatus, the combination with the elements of such an apparatus of a packing comprising thin partition walls of fibrous material impregnated with a substance to provide the wet strength required while maintaining it absorbent, at least a portion of said partition walls undulating so as to engage other of said walls at spaced intervals to mutually support each other and define a mass of adjacent peripherally enclosed tubular cells opened at the top and bottom, means for supplying liquid onto the top of the packing which is divided by the edges of the partition walls at the open top of adjacent cells to cause liquid to be supplied to the cells, said divided liquid flowing downwardly on each side of the common partition walls between cells for maintaining films of liquid thereon for contacting gas flowing through the cells, the cross-sectional area of the cells being so small that liquid can bridge the walls of the cells by surface tension whereby to provide a large surface area per unit of volume of said packing, and means to cause gas and liquid to flow through the cells.

9. In a gas and liquid contact apparatus, the combination with the elements of such an apparatus of a packing comprising thin partition walls of a fibrous material impregnated with a substance to provide the wet strength required while maintaining it absorbent, at least a portion of said partition walls undulating to engage other of said walls at spaced'intervals to mutually support each other and define a mass of adjacent parallel peripherally enclosed tubular cells open at the top and bottom, means for supplying liquid onto the top of the packing which is divided by the edges of the walls at the open top of adjacent cells to distribute the liquid across the packing, said divided liquid flowing downwardly on each side of the common partition walls between cells for maintaining films of liquid thereon for contact with gas flowing through the cells, the cross-sectional area of the cells being so small that liquid can bridge the walls of the cells by surface tension whereby to provide a large surface area per unit of volume of said packing, and liquid draining surfaces projecting downwardly from the cells to break the bridging of said liquid to cause it to flow away from the cells and maintain the lower ends of the cells open for the flow of air thereto.

10. A packing unit for a tower in which a gas and liquid contact each other comprising thin partition walls, at least a portion of said walls undulating to engage other of said walls at spaced intervals to mutually support each other and form a mass of adjacent peripherally enclosed tubular cells extending between opposite sides of the packing and open at both ends to allow liquid to flow through said cells, the dimensions of the cells being so small that liquid having substantially the surface tension characteristics of water can bridge the walls of the cells by surface tension whereby to provide a large surface area per unit of volume of the packing, and means at one side of said packing for breaking the bridging of the liquid to cause it to drain continuously from the ends of the tubular cells to maintain the cells open.

11. A packing unit for a tower in which gas and liquid contact each other comprising thin partition Walls, at least a portion of said walls undulating to engage other of said walls at spaced intervals to mutually support each other and form a mass of adjacent peripherally enclosed tubular cells extending between opposite sides of the packing and open at both ends to allow liquid to flow through the cells, the dimensions of the cells being so small that liquid having substantially the surface tension characteristics of water can bridge the walls of the cells by surface tension whereby to provide a large surface area per unit of volume of the packing, and the liquid discharge ends of said cells being angularly disposed to a vertical plane to drain liquid continuously from the ends thereof.

12. A packing unit for a tower in which gas and liquid contact each other in accordance with claim 11 in which the partition walls comprise a stack of corrugated sheets, and the liquid draining surface comprise a series of serrations on each sheet at one side of the packing and having inclined sides out along a plurality of adjacent cells at an angle thereto, and said inclined sides of the serrations extending along an individual cell a distance greater than the capillary rise of liquid therein.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 199,492 Balmore Ian. 22, 1878 869,747 Starr Oct. 29, 1907 2,231,088 Richardson Feb. 11, 1941 2,317,951 Burk Apr. 27, 1943 2,637,540 Rowe May 5, 1953 

